Nepal Company & Beneficial Ownership Directory

Analysis

What this data actually tells you about Nepal

Nepal is a landlocked, remittance-dependent economy of roughly 29-30 million people, with nominal GDP of approximately $44.8 billion in 2025 and GDP per capita of $1,179.81 in 2024 (current US$; PPP-adjusted $5,046.82). Growth figures for FY2025/26 diverge sharply across sources and vintages: the World Bank projected growth would slow to just 2.1% in a November 2025 forecast citing fallout from the September 2025 political unrest, while a later domestic macroeconomic report cited 3.85% growth alongside Rs 2.36 trillion in remittances, and separate quarterly reads showed 3.02% (Q1) and 4.1% (Q2); these should be treated as different vintages of an evolving picture rather than interchangeable figures, and the World Bank projects a rebound to 4.7% in FY2026/27 driven by reconstruction. Inflation eased from 5.4% in FY2023/24 to 4.1% in FY2024/25 and stood at 3.25% in February 2026, a broadly disinflationary trend. The Nepalese Rupee has been pegged to the Indian Rupee at a fixed rate of NPR 1.60 = INR 1 since 1994, a hard peg maintained by Nepal Rastra Bank. Public debt sits in the mid-to-high 40s percent of GDP as of 2026 (readings ranged from 43.71% to 44.87% across mid-2025 to mid-2026 snapshots, roughly evenly split between external and domestic obligations), a moderate but tightening load as expenditure growth outpaces revenue. National poverty stood at 20.27% per the Nepal Living Standards Survey IV (2022-23), the most authoritative recent household survey, though this predates both the 2025 unrest and 2026 floods, which likely pushed some households back into poverty without yet being reflected in a post-shock re-survey.

Nepal has one of the highest remittance-to-GDP ratios in the world: worker remittances reached Rs 2.36 trillion in FY2025/26, reported at 35.8% of GDP, with roughly 741,000 Nepalis obtaining approvals for overseas work in FY2023/24 and the 2021 census recording 2.1 million Nepalis already abroad; migrant destinations remain concentrated in the UAE (40% share of new departures), Saudi Arabia and Qatar, though departures to Europe have surged more than fourfold since 2017/18, diversifying away from Gulf and Malaysia dependence. Nepal exported $2.4 billion in goods in 2025 against $11.5 billion in imports, a large structural trade deficit; 67.7% of exports go to India, and India plus China together supply over three-quarters of Nepal’s imports. One export category, animal and vegetable fats, oils and waxes, reportedly grew over 1000% year-on-year to $1.1 billion in 2025, a jump almost certainly linked to edible-oil re-export tariff arbitrage with India rather than organic production growth, and should not be cited as a straightforward export-strength story without further explanation. Hydropower has emerged as Nepal’s most credible growth-diversification story, with electricity the fastest-growing sector of the economy and exports beginning to India and, from June 2025, Bangladesh, though the late-August 2026 Trishuli valley flood disaster struck directly at hydropower infrastructure along that river. Tourism remains a major sector, contributing an estimated 6.7-7.8% of GDP; Nepal welcomed 1,158,459 international visitors in 2025, reaching 96.8% of pre-pandemic levels, with mountaineering royalties across the spring and autumn 2025 seasons exceeding NPR 1 billion combined.

Nepal underwent a major political transition over the past year: the September 2025 “Gen Z” uprising, triggered by a since-reversed social-media ban layered on long-running anger over corruption, left at least 77 people dead and saw Nepal’s Parliament, Supreme Court, Singha Durbar and 500+ other government buildings burned or damaged, prompting PM K.P. Sharma Oli’s resignation; estimated economic damage from the unrest is disputed across sources, ranging from $586 million (the interim government’s own figure) to a separate estimate of roughly $21 billion, a nearly 40-fold gap that has not been reconciled in available reporting. Former Chief Justice Sushila Karki, Nepal’s first woman to lead the government, served as interim PM and oversaw an election on March 5, 2026, which the Rastriya Swatantra Party won in a landslide, 182 of 275 seats, its first single-party majority since 1999; Balendra “Balen” Shah, the former independent Mayor of Kathmandu, was sworn in as Prime Minister on March 27, 2026 at age 36 and remained in office as of September 2026. Separately, on August 26-27, 2026, a Langtang Lirung glacier collapse triggered flash floods that devastated a 72-kilometre stretch of the Trishuli River valley and destroyed the Gyirong Port on the China border, with reported tolls in Nepal reaching at least 1,403 deaths and 6,150 missing, including an estimated 900 hydropower-project workers, becoming a flashpoint in China-India tensions over Tibetan dam projects. Both events are presented here factually and with explicit dates, and counterparties should verify current political and disaster-recovery status directly given how recently these developments occurred.